Introduction

This recipe is taken from "Vegan with a vengeance: over 150 delicious, cheap, animal-free recipes that rock" By Isa Chandra Moskowitz
This recipe is taken from "Vegan with a vengeance: over 150 delicious, cheap, animal-free recipes that rock" By Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients

Tips

** This recipe is for the dough only, the calorie count does NOT include any topping for the pizza.

Directions

The first step is to “proof” your yeast. I’ve been told that with modern yeast technology this step is unnecessary, but my mother-in-law does it, so I will, too. Pour the water (be sure it is warn, not hot) into a small bowl and dissolve the sugar in it, then add the yeast. Stir it a little bit so the yeast gets wet, and let it sit in a warm place for 10 minutes or so. When you come back it should be kind of foamy and maybe even bubbling a bit; if it is, congratulations! Your yeast is alive. If nothing’s happened you’ll have to start over with a new package of yeast.

While you’re waiting for your yeast to prove itself you might as well assemble the dry ingredients in a medium-size bowl. Once you’re sure your yeast is good, add the oil and the yeast mixture to the flour and salt and stir, or mix with your hands if you’re the adventurous sort. You won’t get very far before the dough balls up and doesn’t want to absorb any more flour; don’t worry, that’s normal. Sprinkle a little flour on your nice, clean countertop and dump out the whole mixture onto it. It’s time to knead.

Kneading dough is a bit more art than science, and there’s no real “right” way to do it, as long as you get it thoroughly mixed and stretched. Don’t work too hard at it; you’re going to be kneading it for 10 minutes or so and you don’t want to wear yourself out at the start.

Your dough should be a little sticky; before you start, pat your hands with flour to keep them from sticking. If the dough is really, really, sticky, work some more flour into it as you knead. Soon enough the dough should become less sticky and easier to work, in a kind of magical way; now’s the time to really start working it, stretching it out and squishing it with your hands. Don’t be afraid to treat it rough; it likes it. The more you work it the stretchier and more elastic it will be, which is what you want for pizza dough.

After about 10 minutes the dough should be nice and stretchy, still moist and tacky but not sticky or gooey. If it seems really tough and dry you’ve probably added too much flour. Don’t worry; it happens. You can still use it; maybe knead it a little longer and remember to try not to add as much flour next time. Pizza dough’s not hard, but it takes a little practice to get it perfect.

Form the dough into a tight little ball. You’ll need a clean bowl that’s at least twice the size of your dough ball for the dough to rise in. Put a little oil (about 2 teaspoons, but it doesn’t have to be that precise) in the bowl, and put your dough ball in it and swirl it around a little, then flip it over. The idea here is to get both the bowl and your ball of dough covered with a thin film of oil. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp towel or plastic wrap and set it in a warm place. Go away for about an hour.

When you come back your dough ball should’ve doubled in size, more or less. Here’s the fun part: uncover your dough and give it a firm, solid punch so it deflates. Sprinkle some more flour onto your countertop and dump the dough out onto it and start kneading. It should be stretchier and more pliable than it was before. Knead it for only about a minute, or until it’s less like a sponge and more like dough again. Put it back in the bowl and cover it so it can rest.

How long? It’s up to you. You can freeze the dough now if you want and then defrost it and continue later. If you’re impatient and you can wait as little as ten minutes, but your dough won’t be very stretchy. An hour or two would be good. Either way, when you’ve waited long enough (and when your oven is hot enough; preheat to 500°F or as hot as you dare), sprinkle your countertop with flour (again), take your dough ball out of the bowl, and cut it in two. Put one portion of dough back into the bowl.

Now it’s time to stretch. Like kneading, stretching is an art and you’ll get better with practice, so don’t be discouraged if your first couple of pizzas are uneven or small. Don’t expect to be throwing it up in the air and catching it like they do in the pizzeria; those guys are seasoned pros. Again, there’s no right way; whatever works is good, but here’s what I do: with my hands I flatten out the dough a little, and then I roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s about a foot in diameter. Then I pick it up on one side and let gravity help me stretch it out; I work my way around it, trying to stretch it into an even circle, until I start to worry that it will tear. Then I sprinkle my pizza tray with a little cornmeal and set down the crust on it, pat it out a little bit more, and then apply the toppings. If the dough is just right and your stretching technique works, you should be able to get two 14-inch thin-crust pizzas from the recipe; but like I said, it takes practice, so if your pizzas are parallelogram-shaped or lumpy, just say they’re “rustic” and don’t sweat it.